In the spirit of ideas worth spreading, TEDx is a program of local, self-organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience. At a TEDx event, TEDTalks video and live speakers combine to spark deep discussion and connection in a small group. These local, self-organized events are branded TEDx, where x = independently organized TED event. The TED Conference provides general guidance for the TEDx program, but individual TEDx events are self-organized (subject to certain rules and regulations).

Yale-NUS College
18 College Ave West
Singapore, Central Singapore, 138528
Singapore

Ashley Yong

Ashley Yong believes restorative justice moves us forward. In her role overseeing disciplinary conduct and sexual misconduct at Yale-NUS College, she is an advocate for learning from mistakes and embracing growth through accountability. Ashley's experiences in supporting both survivors and perpetrators of relationship and sexual violence fuel her commitment to compassion and the healing power of restorative justice.

Carissa Foo

Carissa Foo is a literary critic and fiction writer. She received her Ph.D. from Durham University, with a research interest in twentieth-century women’s writing and its dialogues with spatial theory and queer studies. Intrigue with the Peripatetic school fed a study on nomadism in the works of modernist women writers; from street haunting to hotel hopping, she reads narratives of women’s lived experience and feminine modes of navigation in inhospitable worlds. Her most recent publication is a reading of temporal tensions in Xiaolu Guo’s romance narratives (Feminist Encounters) and a collection of short stories, No Wonder, Women (Penguin Random House SEA).

Chaitanyasre Lenin

Chaitanyasre exemplifies the intersection of academic excellence, compassionate leadership, and a fervent commitment to public health research. With a diverse educational background spanning philosophy, pre-medical sciences, and public health, she brings a unique perspective to her work, championing innovative interventions to address pressing health disparities. Currently serving as a Public Health Researcher at the Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine, Chaitanyasre is actively engaged in groundbreaking research focused on enhancing health outcomes within the realm of chronic illnesses. Her work centers on identifying and implementing unique interventions aimed at bridging crucial gaps in health outcomes, particularly among marginalized communities. Additionally, she is gaining widespread international reputation for her musical prowess; her unique cross-genre blend has surpassed over 5 million streams and continues to speak to her innovative tenacity as a storyteller and interdisciplinary scholar committed to using her artistry as a tool to make a tangible difference in the lives of others.

Chelsea Sharon

Dr. Chelsea Sharon is an observational radio astronomer and she studies the processes that affect star formation and galaxy evolution across cosmic time. For her work, she primarily uses synchronized arrays of radio telescopes like the Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array in New Mexico (USA) and the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array in Chile to characterize the gas reservoirs that fuel star formation. Her work addresses why galaxies in the early universe have unusually high star formation rates and what role galaxies’ supermassive black holes play in ending periods of rapid star formation. Dr. Sharon received her BS in astrophysics at the California Institute of Technology in 2007, and her PhD at Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey in 2013. Dr. Sharon was subsequently a postdoctoral research associate at Cornell University as well as the inaugural William & Caroline Herschel Postdoctoral Fellow at McMaster University prior to joining the faculty at Yale-NUS College.

Jia Min Heng

Jia Min is an adventurous and curious researcher of life. She has 12 years of experience organising community events in Singapore and Southeast Asia, 10 years of experience with education across age groups and content areas, and has spent the past few years exploring arts-based and asset-based approaches to community development. She hopes to use her explorations in facilitation, environmental studies, and theatre to create spaces for communities in Southeast Asia to conduct dialogue and take ownership over realising the community’s aspirations and addressing problems and injustices. In her free time, she enjoys learning new things like archery, pottery, pro-wrestling, dance and various languages, as well as walking amongst trees and forests. She also writes creative non-fiction and poetry, and is working on a semi-autobiographical monodrama about a girl who wants to do everything but also wants to be a Buddha.

Kah Mun Chan

Artist. Adventurer. Advocate. Kah Mun pursues both sustainability and the creative arts, with a young career in private and public organisations tackling sustainability from angles across supply chain, capacity building, nature-based programs and decarbonization. She is currently in the Sustainability Leadership Programme at Schneider Electric. She is also an ever curious explorer, with Kyrgyzstan in Central Asia most recently becoming her 31st country. Understanding the power of sincere storytelling to shift attitudes and change behaviours, she uses art to celebrate the beauty of nature and highlight our shared humanity. Her chosen mediums are photography (@howlightfalls on Instagram), video (@okaykahmy on Youtube), as well as writing & music (coming soon). Kah Mun took a gap year at 25 to solo travel post Covid, reunite with friends, rekindle art practices, and rediscover herself. She remains a believer of people’s goodness, lover of collaboration, and grateful human of our one planet earth.

Maleeka Hassan

Maleeka Hassan is a student from Yale-NUS College who spent most of her life growing up in sunny Sri Lanka. Throughout her years there, her country suffered through a civil war, multiple political crises, Covid-19, and then a crippling economic crisis. Throughout it all, she realised that media institutions often pigeonholed her country (and many others) as a beautiful tourist destination or a failing nation. In her speech, she delves further into the struggle and hardship that Sri Lanka endured during its "worst economic crisis since its Independence", and how much resilience, love, and community the people continued to display towards each other despite it.

Manraaj Singh

"Manraaj grew up in Amritsar, India. The city's unique status as the spiritual capital of Sikhs and a witness to the green revolution influenced his approach towards environmental issues. He believes that the first step towards solving the climate crisis is reconnecting to the natural world. This reconnection is both our collective spiritual and political curriculum. Manraaj graduated from Yale-NUS College with a Bachelor of Science in Environmental Studies in 2021, specialising in the water-energy-food (WEF) nexus. Currently, he is the partnerships lead at Handprint, a nature-tech startup in Singapore. This talk could not have been possible without the generosity of the Pak K'Yaw community in Nong Tao village of Chiang Mai, Thailand. "

Philip Johns

Philip Johns is an evolutionary biologist and an entomologist by training. He moved to SE Asia to study the insects there -- and to help start a liberal arts college -- and he fell in love with the urban wildlife in Singapore. He and his students have studied everything from urban hornbills to flying lizards to colugos. He has a special fondness for urban otters, and he and his students have studied their behaviours in depth.

Tanmay Raghu

Growing up readjusting to new environments as a defence personnel kid, the process of fitting in was a continuous part of Tanmay’s childhood. Since his solo move to Singapore at the young age of 15, Tanmay’s academic and personal journey has spanned 3 continents and 5 countries over the last 5 years. A public speaker, author, and theatre enthusiast from an early age, Tanmay employs his rhetoric skills to impart the profound insights he has honed through authentic connections and experiences forged during his internationalising experiences. The talk aims to extract general, perhaps relatable, conclusions about the ways in which one transforms–or rebirths–themselves in order to fit into different environments around the world. Exploring aspects of culture, language, psychology, and more, the talk will cover tips on personal reinvention that may help one thrive in new environments while retaining the elemental 'Phoenix essence'.